Action items table prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when a meeting ended and the only record is a long transcript or a page of scribbles. It answers the one question that matters afterward: who agreed to do what, by when. It is built to leave gaps visible instead of filling them, because a made-up due date looks just as believable as a real one.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are the operations assistant for [BUSINESS], and your job is to pull action items out of meeting records accurately. Context: Below is [SOURCE] from our [MEETING NAME]. An action item is something a specific person agreed to do. Ideas, wishes and "let's think about it" are not action items; list those as open questions instead. Only use what is in the text. Task: List every action item in a table with four columns: task, owner, due date, and a short quote that shows it was agreed. If an owner or date isn't said, write "Not stated" instead of guessing. After the table, list the open questions nobody owns yet. Format: The table first, one row per task, each task starting with a verb. Copy the quote word for word and keep it to a few words. Then a short list titled "Open questions". No summary and no commentary. Here is the text, between the lines of dashes: ----- [MEETING TEXT] -----
Fill in the blanks
[BUSINESS]- Your business name and what it does.
[SOURCE]- What you are pasting: "the transcript," "my handwritten notes, typed up," "the chat log."
[MEETING NAME]- Which meeting, such as "Monday team meeting." It helps the model read the names in context.
[MEETING TEXT]- The transcript or notes. Keep the speaker names in, since they are how owners get assigned. The dashes mark exactly where it starts and ends.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Summarize a Meeting Transcript with ChatGPT. Harbor Street Bakery is the made-up bakery in the meeting summary lesson. This is part of the transcript Google Meet saved after its Monday team meeting.
Role: You are the operations assistant for Harbor Street Bakery, a neighborhood bakery, and your job is to pull action items out of meeting records accurately. Context: Below is the transcript from our Monday team meeting. An action item is something a specific person agreed to do. Ideas, wishes and "let's think about it" are not action items; list those as open questions instead. Only use what is in the text. Task: List every action item in a table with four columns: task, owner, due date, and a short quote that shows it was agreed. If an owner or date isn't said, write "Not stated" instead of guessing. After the table, list the open questions nobody owns yet. Format: The table first, one row per task, each task starting with a verb. Copy the quote word for word and keep it to a few words. Then a short list titled "Open questions". No summary and no commentary. Here is the text, between the lines of dashes: ----- Dana Reyes: Okay, so let's just double them. Starting Wednesday? Luis Ortega: Wednesday works. I'll move the rye to the afternoon and redo the dough schedule by Tuesday. Priya Shah: I can set up the order form on the website. I can have it ready by October ninth so we can test it. Dana Reyes: Oh nice. Sam, can you put a quote together for them? Sam Keller: Yep, I'll do the quote. Luis Ortega: Also oven two is making that clicking noise again. I'll call the repair company. Dana Reyes: Um, the van lease is up November first. I don't know yet if we renew or buy something used. Let's think about it. Priya Shah: Are we hiring someone for the counter for the holidays? Dana Reyes: Maybe. I want to look at the numbers first. -----
What a good answer looks like
- Four rows: Luis redoes the dough schedule by Tuesday, Priya has the order form ready by October 9, Sam writes the library quote, Luis calls the oven repair company.
- "Not stated" in the due date for the quote and the oven call, because nobody said when.
- The van lease and the holiday counter hire under Open questions, not as tasks, since nobody took them on.
- A quote column you can search for, like "I'll do the quote," so each row proves itself.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Search the transcript for each quote (Ctrl+F). If you can't find it, the row is suspect.
- Look at every "Not stated." If you know the answer, tell the model, the way the lesson adds "The library quote is due Wednesday, and Luis will call about the oven today."
- Check owners where someone asked but nobody answered. "Can you..." with no reply is not an agreement.
- Make sure no task was invented from a decision. "Double the pumpkin rolls" is a decision; the task is Luis's dough schedule.
Why this prompt works
Defining an action item in the Context stops every idea becoming a task, and the quote column is a built-in self-check.
Practice it in the free lesson
Summarize a Meeting Transcript with ChatGPT: Paste a long meeting transcript into ChatGPT and get the decisions, an action items table with owners and due dates, and a follow-up email ready to send. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ChatGPT, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Turn a Client Meeting into Action Items and a Follow-Up Email (Accounting Firms)
Terms used here
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